


Last Hope

by booksareme



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-22 00:05:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1568759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksareme/pseuds/booksareme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when Merlin gives up hope?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Hope

**Author's Note:**

> so this is un-betaed right now, all mistakes are mine. and the awkwardness of the characters is all mine too cause i suck at writing sometimes. especially emotional scenes. which is basically this whole fic... anyway.. this fic was inspired by the song Say Something by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera and yes, I know, it’s extremely cliché but whatever. it just kinda happened. Enjoy!

“I can’t wait anymore. He’s gone,” Merlin whispered into his empty flat. He was sitting on his bed, finally accepting the cold truth. Arthur would never return because Albion would never need him again.

“I am alone. He won’t come back. I’m stuck here forever.”

He proceeded to cry himself to sleep as he let go of the little hope that had remained in Arthur and the fate of Albion.

The following day, Merlin spent at home, feeling depressed and relieved and tired and just wanting to go back so, so bad.

Then, at around four, the doorbell rang. Merlin, not expecting company, was tempted to just let the person wait long enough that they left but whoever was at that door was persistent. After fifteen minutes, they still hadn’t left so; finally, Merlin pulled himself off the couch and opened the door. When he glimpsed the person standing outside, he promptly slammed it in their face.

“C’mon, Merlin! Let me in. I know it’s you.”

Merlin leaned against the door and slowly slid down to the floor as he processed his emotions. “Go away. You can’t be here. This isn’t real. This is a dream,” He half-whispered.

“Merlin. It’s Arthur. Please let me in,” Arthur pleaded.

“It is not possible for you to be here. This is a hallucination. If I wait long enough, you’ll leave me alone.” Merlin muttered.

“Merlin! Stop this nonsense! Open this door at once!” Arthur demanded, a kingly tone seeping into his voice.

After a moment’s hesitation, Merlin stood and pried open the door. He stared into Arthur’s face as tears rolled down his face. “Why are you doing this to me? Stop playing with my mind!”

“What are you talking about, Merlin? I’m not playing with your mind.” Arthur said in disbelief.

“You are a hallucination! You are not real! Get out of my head!” Merlin shouted at the figure in front of him. At this point, he was sobbing and wanted to believe in this mirage but he couldn’t. He had done that far too many times in his long life already.

Arthur reached forward and grabbed Merlin’s shoulders and shook him slightly. “Merlin, I’m real. I’m not part of your imagination.”

“YOU CAN’T BE! YOU’RE DEAD!” Merlin screamed. Arthur flinched but swiftly recovered. He entered Merlin’s flat and closed the door. He led Merlin to the couch and sat him down.

“Merlin, you have to believe me. I’m real. I’m not dead anymore. I needed to come back.” Arthur murmured as he enveloped Merlin in a hug.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Merlin repeated over and over again. “Not real, not happening. Just another hallucination. Can’t believe him this time.” He rocked back and forth in Arthur’s embrace, savoring every moment, for he knew that soon enough, this Arthur would disappear like all the others.

Arthur sat there as he held his trembling friend and wondered how long he had been gone. What did he have to endure while I was gone? He must have gone through hell.

Eventually, Merlin calmed down enough and extracted himself from Arthur’s arms. He moved to the far end of the couch and curled into a ball. After a few minutes like this he whispered, “Why haven’t you left yet?”

“Oh Merlin, why would I leave? I’m real and I’m back and I’m here to stay. Please believe me,” Arthur begged.

A few minutes later, Merlin replied, “If you really are Arthur and you really are back, why? Why now? Albion doesn’t need you anymore. Its glory days are over and you are just a myth. No one believes in you anymore.” He paused and then said quietly, “I don’t even think I do.”

“Merlin, you have to. You have to believe. Maybe hearing the story will change your mind,” Arthur settled into the couch and started to explain himself. “Um…. Well everything is kind of confusing but here we go. I- uh- I died at the Battle of Camlann and then you left me at the lake of Avalon. I woke up underwater and I stayed there with Freya for a while. We talked a lot, about you mostly, and became friends and then, all of a sudden, she told me it was time for me to go because Albion needed me again. It felt like a few hours for me but now I understand it was much longer. Freya said that Albion was dying. That it was giving up. I didn’t understand what she meant but now I’m starting to. You lost hope, Merlin. You are everything that Albion ever represented. You are Albion. And you gave up.”

Merlin nestled further into his huddle as he thought of his decision that waiting meant nothing. That Arthur was never going to return. But why did his giving up mean Arthur was back? “Well, that still doesn’t explain why you’re here. So I lost hope in Albion. Why does that mean you have to return?”

“I think I’m here because... because I’m the only one who can bring back your belief and hope in everything good,” Arthur stated quietly.

Merlin remained in his little ball on his side of the couch until he was aching all over. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. He was starting to recall old memories from Camelot that he had suppressed for so long; he had almost forgotten he ever lived there. Merlin wasn’t sure if wanted to scream at Arthur and hit him for being gone so long or jump around the room with joy because, finally, finally, he was back. After what seemed like an eternity, he stood from his perch on the couch and turned to Arthur. “Make me believe then,” he said, as a wide grin spread across his face.

“Oh thank God!” Arthur cried as he leaped up from the couch. “I thought you would never say anything!” He rushed over to Merlin and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Arthur, you were gone for thousands of years and I was here for every second of it. I missed you with every breath, every beat of my heart. I’ve wanted you here for so long and just when I accepted you were never coming back, you turn up at my door. It’s like a dream come true,” Merlin sighed into Arthur’s ear.

“Merlin, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!” Arthur repeated over and over as the pain of Merlin’s excruciating wait pierced his heart. “I’m sorry.”

Eventually, after tears and storytelling and tea, the two were again seated on the couch with Merlin’s head in Arthur’s lap. After a few content minutes of this, Merlin pushed himself up and said, “I really missed you, you know.”

“I know. And I’m still really sorry.”

“Please stop saying that. It’s not like it’s your fault you were gone. If only I had given up hope sooner!” Merlin joked.

“Don’t say that! But to be honest, I’m pretty surprised you held out that long, being an idiot and all.”

“Mhmm yeah I wonder how long you would have lived without me. I was saving your ass every five minutes back in Camelot. And you didn’t even notice!”

“To be fair, I wasn’t spying on my servant to see if he had magical powers that he was using to protect me everywhere we went.”

“But still, sometimes it was pretty damn obvious!”

“You swear when you’re excited.”

“So?”

“It’s cute.” And then, Arthur leaned over and kissed Merlin hard on the mouth. At first, Merlin didn’t know what to do, his wildest dream coming true right at that very second, but, quickly enough, he started kissing back. 

When Arthur broke away for breath, Merlin asked, “What was that for?”

“I’ve wanted to do that far too long. So I did it.”

Arthur grunted as Merlin pushed him back against the couch and moved to sit on Arthur’s lap. “Well, I wanted it, too,” Merlin said as he began kissing Arthur again. They continued like this for a while, full of wonder at their other half right in front of them, wondering how they could’ve missed this.

“Hey, Arthur?”

“Mmm?”

“I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too, Merlin. Me too.”


End file.
